Man again pleads guilty to trying to blow up Plano gas line

On the eve of his federal criminal trial, a Plano man pleaded guilty Monday to charges related to his attempt to blow up a natural-gas line with a homemade explosive.

Anson Chi, 35, pleaded guilty to two of the four counts he was facing — the same two counts he pleaded guilty to last year.

The earlier plea agreement was overturned on a technicality in February. The difference in the new agreement is that the prison sentence is essentially open-ended. Under the earlier deal, Chi was facing 22 years in federal prison.

Chi will now be able to argue issues related to sentencing. He will also have the opportunity to appeal in some instances. No date has been set for his sentencing, which will eventually be imposed by U.S. District Judge Richard Schell.

The lead prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Stover, said late Monday that the plea agreement was best for all involved. Opening statements in the case were scheduled to start Tuesday.

“Our main objective was to get a conviction,” he said. “These are crimes of violence. It’s very dangerous what happened.”

Chi was representing himself after firing his defense attorneys earlier this year. He had alleged before Monday’s hearing that he had been tortured into confessing to an attempt to blow up the Plano gas line in June 2012.

After the plea agreement was finalized, he was led from the courtroom in handcuffs and was not available for comment. Chi’s parents, who were in court, declined to comment.

Attorney Garland Cardwell was appointed by the court to serve as Chi’s standby counsel and help with any legal issues.

“This offer was something he didn’t have before,” Cardwell said after the hearing. “This gives him more opportunity to have a say in his sentence.”

Chi pleaded guilty to possessing a destructive device that was not registered as required by law. During questioning as part of the plea hearing, Chi acknowledged that he used chemicals to create an explosive with methyl nitrate. The range of punishment for this charge is not more than 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

Chi also pleaded guilty to a second charge of using that explosive device maliciously by igniting it in an attempt to destroy an Atmos Energy natural-gas pipeline in the 3600 block of West Parker Road. Chi agreed that it was his intent to disrupt the flow of natural gas in the line, which served businesses. The range of punishment is from five to 20 years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine.

The other two charges — that Chi used an explosive device in a crime of violence and that he made false statements to the court — will be dismissed under the latest agreement.

If Chi had gone to trial, he could have faced up to 50 years in federal prison because of the possibility of consecutive sentences if he were convicted on all counts.

A jury of five women and seven men, along with two alternates, had been chosen about 5 p.m. The day was spent going through a multitude of questions with potential jurors as a group and individually to determine whether they could be impartial in the case.

Among the questions from prosecutors: Is it ever appropriate to destroy property for a belief or a cause or anti-government feelings? None of the potential jurors agreed with that.

Among Chi’s questions to potential jurors: Who has heard the term techno-industrial civilization? No one had. Nor was anyone familiar with the term anti-civ-literature.

Prosecutors and Chi did not use the word terrorism during the daylong jury selection, but there was a possibility it could have come up during the trial.

Prosecutors had wanted to show jurors letters that Chi exchanged with Unabomber Ted Kaczynski in 2011 and 2012 to show Chi’s malicious intent. The correspondence ended after the convicted killer sent Chi a certified letter from prison asking that he not contact him again.

Prosecutors also wanted to discuss the content of a website they allege Chi created called endthesystem.org. He had argued in court filings that the evidence could prejudice the jury into wrongly believing he was a terrorist, he said.

Schell had ruled that the letters and the website material would be excluded unless prosecutors got a ruling on their admissibility outside the presence of the jury.

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